The Catholic 7 basketball schools’ divorce from the Big East is coming sooner than expected—it'll now be this summer—and the Catholic 7 will keep the Big East name, too, according to multiple reports.

DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall and Villanova announced in December their plan to leave the Big East, most likely in the summer of 2014.

The Big East name reportedly is going with the Catholic 7. (Big East Conference)

Once the Catholic 7 officially form their own league, which will begin July 1, they also must determine other schools that they will add. Athletics directors have been debating whether to add three basketball schools to get to 10 teams, or five schools to reach 12 teams.

Butler and Xavier from the Atlantic 10 have agreed to join the Catholic 7 this summer, too, according to ESPN and Yahoo! Sports. Other schools most prominently mentioned as candidates for other spots in the new league are Creighton from the Missouri Valley and Dayton, Richmond, Saint Louis and Virginia Commonwealth, also from the A-10.

“I think without question, the Catholic 7 deserves the Big East name," Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino told USA Today on Thursday. "They should have, in my estimation, broken away from the football schools three years ago. I think they waited way too long. They should have been fed up a long time ago.

"You have some of the great, great traditions in college basketball. They should have gotten together, made their strong basketball league, sell their own deal and they should be the Big East. They should be playing in Madison Square Garden.”

It is unknown yet what the Catholic 7 schools are paying the former Big East to leave the conference in less than the 27 required months’ notice or what they’re paying to retain the Big East brand name. Xavier and Butler will have to each pay a $2 million exit fee to leave the A-10.

Presidents of the Big East football schools are scheduled to meet Friday in Atlanta to sign off on the negotiated early exits of the Catholic 7 and Notre Dame and the sale of the Big East brand, according to Sports Illustrated.

Notre Dame, a participant in all sports but football and ice hockey, also reportedly will exit the Big East this summer as well. Notre Dame hopes to move forward its entry to the ACC by a year, but if unable to do so would play the 2013-14 season with the Catholic 7 before joining the ACC in 2014-15, according to ESPN.

The Catholic 7 reportedly are close to signing a TV deal with Fox that would pay each member at least $3 million annually; the deal is expected to be announced next week. The Big East leftovers just last week came to terms with ESPN on a new contract worth $130 million over seven years, although the early departure of the Catholic 7 and Notre Dame could diminish those rights fees.

With the Catholic 7 negotiating to keep the Big East name, the remaining members of the Big East will have to select a new brand.

What remains of the old Big East will be a shell of itself. Leftovers Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, Rutgers, Temple and South Florida will be joined by newcomers Central Florida, Houston, Memphis and SMU.

Louisville is set to leave the conference in the summer of 2014 for the ACC, and Rutgers is set to join the Big Ten in 2014 as well. Neither will be able to move up their departure dates because scheduling for football is done so far in advance.